Andrei Codrescu, that is.

Mr. Codrescu is in town this week for a series of lectures and events and my husband and I hosted a party at our home for him last night.

Also in attendance was Anderew Miksys, photographer of exquisite photographs of a Lithuanian Gypsy community in BAXT, with text by Andrei Codrescu.

Tonight you can attend a lecture by Andrei Codescru speaking at Town Hall

And Friday night will be a fun evening of debauchery a la Codrescu at the Center on Contemporary Art, in the shadow of the Space Needle:

Writer, poet and bon vivant extraordinaire Andrei Codrescu brings his worldy wit and wisdom to Seattle as he talks on “States of Memoir, or How to Reconnect Old Brains to New Ones in Several Languages.”

Friday January 26, 7:30pm: THE BAXT PHOTOGRAPHS at CoCA
Acclaimed photographer Andrew Miksys, with the assistance of Andrei Codrescu, presents his intimate portraits of a Lithuanian Gypsy community. Book signing to follow. FREE and open to the public.

Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA)
410 Dexter Avenue N.

Friday January 26, 9pm: CODRESCU & FRIENDS at CoCA

Get ready for an evening of belly dancing, burlesque, poetry and debauchery at CoCA. Joining Andrei Codrescu will be the musical group Orchestra L’Pow, the belly dancing troupe Hipnotica, and burlesque dancer extraordinaire Babette La Fave. David Rauschenberg will provide all the DJ action, with Rick Klu as the evening’s emcee.

My good friend Cecilie Miller is putting on this shindig, and it should be a hoot. Gypsy wear encouraged, or at least a bangled bracelet or two.